A Christian church built in the style of a Buddhist temple was among 166 structures that a government advisory panel proposed Friday to designate as tangible cultural assets.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20070922a8a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='178'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>The Smith Memorial Hall –

in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, and the Wakasa Bridge in Wakasa, Tottori Prefecture, are among the structures proposed Friday to receive government designation as tangible cultural assets. KYODO PHOTOS

These additions would bring the total number of structures so designated to 6,630, Cultural Affairs Agency officials said.

The Council for Cultural Affairs, an advisory body to the education minister and the commissioner for cultural affairs, filed its proposal with Bunmei Ibuki, minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology.

The church, the Smith Memorial Hall, was built by American Rev. Percy Almerin Smith in 1931 near Lake Biwa in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture.

After coming to Japan in 1903, Smith worked as an English teacher in Hiroshima, Mie and Shiga prefectures, and did missionary work. He returned to the United States in 1939 and died in Ohio in 1945.

The tile-roofed hall looks like a temple but it is a Christian church, its doors ornamented with sculptures of grapes and the cross.

The hall was demolished in 1996 due to road-widening work, but a nonprofit organization, called the Smith Meeting, rebuilt the hall in March this year.

The list also includes the Wakasa Bridge, located in the town of Wakasa, Tottori Prefecture, and a dummy horse pavilion at the Luna Park amusement grounds in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture.

The Wakasa Bridge is an 83-meter reinforced concrete bridge with three arches built in 1934. The horse pavilion is equipped with five electric-powered dummy horses, produced around 1954, and is possibly the oldest one in Japan.